Will
electric cars ever become the common way to drive? What is needed is an infrastructure that
allows easy recharging of the vehicle (such as gasoline stations are for the
internal combustion engine). There are
two key barriers to plug-ins: first, the current battery technology is very
expensive, adding thousands of dollars to the cost of a plug-in. Next, many
well-established sectors must change to accommodate plug-ins. Consumers must
learn the pros and cons of a plug-in lifestyle, and a new way of valuing
upfront costs against operational savings. Utilities must learn to manage a
large and mobile load. Cities, retailers, and other businesses must incorporate
a new infrastructure of charge spots. All these players must build a new system
of connectivity in order to line up charging times, billing, and consumer
preferences.

ADVERTISEMENT

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based think tank
dedicated to the profitable transition from fossil fuels to efficiency and
renewables, have released a recent report evaluating the readiness of major
cities across America
for Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs).

The study determined the cities with the
highest current readiness for PEVs to be:

San Jose

Los Angeles

San Francisco

Sacramento

Portland

Other cities the report identifies as "leaders" include: Austin, Denver, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, Riverside, San Diego, and Seattle.

One of the most basic requirements for adoption
of electric vehicles is having a place to plug in. According to Ford Motor,
which released its list of 25 cities leading the way with electric
vehicle-readiness on April 13, just having a place to plug in is not enough and
various regulatory and cost incentives are necessary.

Here is the Ford full list, in alphabetical order:

Atlanta

Austin, Texas

Baltimore

Boston

Charlotte, N.C.

Chicago

Dallas

Denver

Detroit

Hartford, Conn.

Honolulu

Houston

Indianapolis

Los Angeles

New York

Orlando, Fla.

Phoenix

Portland, Ore.

Raleigh, N.C.

Richmond, Va.

Sacramento, Calif.

San Diego

San Francisco Bay
Area

Seattle

Washington, D.C.

West
coast cities in both studies are common.

Other factors in the Ford study may be local existing car sales such as hybrids and proximity to production or distribution centers. Ford did state the following as some of their weighted factors:

-Utility rate structures that encourage nighttime or off-peak charging to minimize demand on the grid — San Francisco is currently the leader in this regard